The mayor of a small Mississippi...

COCAINE FORCES MAYOR OUT.

February 15, 1989

OXFORD, MISS. — COCAINE FORCES MAYOR OUT. The mayor of a small Mississippi Delta town has agreed to resign from office and enter a drug treatment program after pleading guilty to selling cocaine. Sylvester Kyles, mayor of the Bolivar County town of Shaw since 1985, entered the plea this week in U.S. District Court at Oxford. Kyles, 37, indicted by a federal grand jury in September, entered the plea to a charge of selling one gram of cocaine for $140 on March 24. Three other people indicted with Kyles pleaded guilty earlier. Buck Beckham, city clerk in the town of about 2,400, said city officials would appoint a replacement to fill the mayor's term, which expires in June. No sentencing date was set. Kyles faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine.